It was that old dust cloud that brought me here, picked up and kept up by those old rebellious forces through harsh terrain where the landscape is unforgiving. It came up through whirlwinds where the cacti pierce flesh. Up and over the sierra and toward the river where the lines draw no borders, but merely provide the barriers to crash through- that form of insistence that can only be resisted.
At the banks of the Rio Bravo it settled down long enough to be molded into this physical form, pigmented by the desert terrain. There I was rooted to the mystical forces, baptized by shamans and inundated with visions of quetzal feathers, jade pendants, obsidian blades, bandoleers of ammunition and Villa’s and Zapata’s sombreros. All those made of maize inhabit the dreamscape.
Long set in motion, it only grows bigger. The beat of each drum and the serpentine rattle convey the emotion as that cloud keeps expanding and can not be ignored. The rhythm is pulsing as each foot pounds the dry cracked terrain and that wild coyote echoes each verse. The flow of the water has been reduces to a trickle, but the tune it once carried forever yearns to be heard.
In righteous rebellion I encode the melody, forever inscribed with cosmic perspective. There’s no time to settle, only to move on in life’s natural progression. Each thought speaks aloud and travels the distance marked with scar tissue and drenched deep in sorrow. The old ones told me their path was mine, and we declare our existence as the seeds of rebellion break through the soil in the fields we plow.
Visit Manuel Lozano at http://manuellozano7.blogspot.com/
A Yellow Dress
I forget my own dreams
When I’m defined by your desire
A woman, gentle as a willow,
Dark skin made darker in a billowing yellow dress.
You would have me seated beside you,
Ankles crossed in a tender pose,
Or swishing by in white high heel shoes,
Glancing over my shoulder at you,
The air misted with the scent of gardenias.
In your fantasy I’ll stay, shutting out what beckons at our door.
I’ll gather the folds of yellow dress around me
And listen for a script to unfold.
In your fantasy I’ll stay if you swear to me
That yellow is never the color of aging gardenias or jaundice or disease.
Warn me that the gravel road outside our door
Doesn’t fare well for a hitchhiker in a yellow dress and high heel shoes;
Keep me from uncovering that time and desperate effort
Swirl in the alchemy that renders the dreams of the poor into nightmares.
Amigos,
Next Wednesday night, Feb. 3, nationally recognized filmmaker Jesus Trevino will be in San Antonio to film my one-woman show dramatic performance “Las Voces de San Antonio”at 7 p.m. at Trinity University’s Attic Theater. The event is free and open to the public.
While a complete recording is being made for eventual distribution, excerpts from the show will be included in his new documentary on Chicano Writers. Please come join us, if you can, for a fun evening. (see attached flyer for more information.)
con carino,
Carmen
Carmen Tafolla, Ph.D.
Writer & Educational Consultant
www.carmentafolla.com
****Thought IS energy****
Gourds
I’ve planted no winter garden.
The summer squash have gone soft,
and split in gruesome grins; I notice
seeds germinating from inside:
in time—anything will eat itself.
Mother’s back aches from the pulsing
root in her rib cage; organs pushed
up against spine, breathing labored
like a bullfrog. My son is coming,
won’t be long now—mother’s belly
has taken its final shape. The dried prickly
head of a sunflower rests easily in the grimy
corner; kernels trip over themselves
in a dust devil; ants eat fallen offerings
next to pumpkins rotting in their shells.
These gourds remind me of the bloated bellies
of the infirm, of the starved.
The grape’s wispy tendrils are tough—their
orbs dried into hard wrinkled nuggets
and the people are hungry and the men stand
around with leathery hands stuffed deep into
second hand store jeans, the collars of worn
jackets turned up against the chill:
this is the way of the world. The warmth will
soon return, and saplings will be planted and grape
vines will come again tough as horse-hair twine,
stubborn as an adolescent, and the women will watch
the men watch as an overripe harvest hits soft ground,
and the men will walk in wide circles avoiding veils
of gorging flies, the soles of heavy boots force tufts
of earth to rise and settle. I want to become a blue heron
and hold mother gently in my thin beak and deliver
her to foreign sands where she’ll dine on stone fruit,
caviar. Fare that crunches and snaps with life,
and together we will wait patiently for sun to return.
Dear Friends, VISIONS OF AZTLAN, a one-hour documentary which I directed and which was produced by my friend and colleague Armando Acevedo, will be premiered at the San Antonio film festival on February 5th! I hope you can attend and pass the word. Saludos, Jesus Treviño
CINEFESTIVAL PREMIERE FEATURES
HOLLYWOOD FILMMAKERS & TEXAS ARTISTS
Texas artists are central to the one-hour documentary that headlines the San Antonio Cinefestival at the Guadalupe Theater on Friday, February 5th. “VISIONS OF AZTLÁN,” a one-hour documentary about the birth of the Chicano Art movement in America, directed by veteran Chicano filmmaker Jesús Salvador Trevino, produced by Armando Acevedo, and featuring original music by Germaine Franco, premieres at the Cinefestival at 7PM. The film chronicles the birth of the Chicano art movement in the 1960s and 1970s and features such Texas-based artists as César Martinez, Santa Barraza, Carmen Lomas Garza and photographer Kathy Vargas. Artists from California, New Mexico and Arizona are also part of the powerful story.
“Before the 1960s, there was virtually no imagery about our Mexican American community on television, in the movies, or in magazines,” explains “Visions of Aztlán” director Jesús Trevino, “and then a generation of Mexican American artists arose, inspired by the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, who began to portray our community, its goals and aspirations, our customs and our lifestyles, through murals, paintings, silkscreens and sculpture.”
Producer Armando Acevedo notes that the artists are now part of the contemporary American art scene. “They created a unique movement that is now recognized internationally for its quality and content. But at the same time, they held up a mirror that reflected our community at a time when we were ignored. That’s the story we try to tell in VISIONS OF AZTLAN,” he says.
The film also celebrates the contributions of 1970s Con Safos art collective, led by San Antonio artist Mel Casas and shaped by participation from other Tejano-inspired artists–José Esquivel, Joe López, Amado Pena, Jesse Trevino, Santa Barraza and Carmen Lomas Garza–that have helped define what we today know as Chicano Art.
Click the image link.
“Rehistoricizing the Time Around Abstract Expressionism in the San Francisco Bay Area 1950s–1970s, “a digital project currently “gathering of exclusively “first voice” biographical material of 23 Women Artists and Artists of Color active in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 1950’s to the late 1960’s”
Find out more at www.rehistoricizing.org
En conmemoración de 25 años de publicación, Confluencia: Revista
Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura publicará un número especial sobre
la literatura chicana. El volumen 26:1, que se editará en el otoño de
2010, solicita ensayos, entrevistas y obras creativas en los diversos
temas de la literatura chicana desde el período fundacional hasta la
actual época transnacional y globalizada. Se invita a los interesados
a enviar su manuscrito de 4000 a 6000 palabras con bibliografía a los
editores invitados: Dr. Oscar U. Somoza (osomoza@du.edu) o al Dr.
Jungwon Park (jungwon.park@unco.edu). La fecha límite para mandar su
colaboración es el 15 de marzo de 2010 y la selección final se
anunciará el 15 de abril. Se aceptan trabajos tanto en español como en
inglés. Se aceptan sugerencias para reseñar libros.
Sitio de Confluencia en la red: http://www.unco.edu/hss/confluencia/
Call for papers: Confluencia 26:1
“Chicana/o Literature: From the Foundational
In commemoration of 25 years of publication, Confluencia: Revista
Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura will publish a special commemorative
issue on Chicana/o literature. Volume 26:1, scheduled for the fall of
2010, invites submissions of articles, interviews and creative works
on a variety of topics on Chicana/o literature from the foundational
period to the present transnational and global era. Please send your
manuscript of 4000 to 6000 words including references to the guest
editors: Dr. Oscar U. Somoza (osomoza@du.edu) or Dr. Jungwon Park
(jungwon.park@unco.edu). The deadline for submissions is March 15,
2010 and selected papers will be announced on April 15. Articles,
interviews and creative works may be either in English or Spanish.
Suggestions for book reviews are also accepted.
Confluencia website: http://www.unco.edu/hss/confluencia/
For more information, contact: jungwon.park@unco.edu, osomoza@du.edu
